Dausa Pilot's legacy will show the way

While delimitation has made Dausa a reserved seat forcing Sachin Pilot to shift out, the Congress candidate from the region Laxman Meena still swears by the work done by the Pilot family and says that alone will ensure his victory here."The voters here know and have seen the good work done by the Pilots—late Rajesh Pilot, his wife Rama Pilot and son Sachin (who represented the seat in the 14th Lok Sabha). I will gain from that. The voters will find that connect with me and the Congress party," 59-year-old Meena told PTI.  

The Pilots enjoyed the support and love of all the communities irrespective of caste. "Late Rajesh Pilot was the unanimous choice of people here and hence in spite of two other Meena candidates and a Gujjar candidate I am sure to get the blessings of everyone. The Pilots initiated a number of development projects too," he said.Meena, an ex-Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1982-batch, believes his experience in the force are helping him garner people's support.  

"Right from handling a district as the SP to the Inspector General (Range), I have come across people from diverse background. I have understood their problems during the course of official investigations and tours to villages and towns of this state," said Meena, who resigned as the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Rajasthan a few days before the elections were announced.   "My connections and contacts since those days are also helping me. I had good relations with the Press (media) too," Meena said. 

Meena, who was given Congress ticket from the region sidelining Meena community strongman Dr Kirori Lal Meena says that he would get the votes from communities like Jats, Scheduled Tribes (SC), Mali and Saini communities."Although we are talking a lot about reservation, I want to assure people that I would work for bridging the divide between both (Gujjar and Meena) the communities," he said referring to the past Gujjar agitations with Dausa being the epicentre. 

Many protesters were killed in Bandikui area of the district.Meena also says that drinking water, employment opportunities in the region and increasing the rate of agricultural production are amongst his priorities for development of the area.The constituency has close to three lakh Meena voters, around 2.5 lakh SC and Brahmin voters and about two lakh Gujjars along with others.